In watching live the city of Toronto executive committee meeting to debate which city programs should face budget cuts I was left with a sick feeling.
I watched over and over again student group representatives parade themselves and whine about cuts and demand that taxes be raised so that the city services remain intact.
Students and people who pay no property taxes should not have a say when cost savings are being looked at!
If Toronto’s property taxes were to go up 10% next year, there is not one student in university that would feel that financial pinch. Many homeowners would have to borrow just to pay for their weekly allotment of Spam and Kraft Dinner but hey at least the future beggars of tomorrow get to keep their services.
I do include renters as people that do not pay property tax and yes they should be banned as well.
I am bound to eventually get angry comments that imply that renters pay more tax then the average house owner through their myriad of calculations. However tenants seem to forget that when property taxes rise 3-4% a year, the landlord can only raise the rent by about 1% per year according to the provincially mandated rent increase.
Eventually while trying to save affordable housing, you will continue to drive landlords away and have even less affordable housing.
And how can we forget the poor parents that want free daycare to be provided by the city of Toronto for their young while they go back to work. Dalton McGuinty already makes me pay for government free daycare in the form of all day kindergarten so I don’t see why I should be forced to pay for your child’s care from birth until the age of 6.
Of course the most humorous moment for me was when Toronto councilor Janet Davis was asking her soft ball questions to one of the deputants and she stated “and the cost of keeping that program would be only $150,000…sigh’. Yes Janet, only $150,000, but that means you need to find that in the budget without just turning on the taxpayer faucet to pay for it!
Aside from imposing road tolls into Toronto for the 905’ers coming in, there was not one constructive solution to the city of Toronto’s finances.
All I heard was whining of “we want to keep everything just the way it is”.
Great, but then offer a solution on how to pay for it that doesn’t involve raising taxes.
If costs rise in my household, I look at the budget and eliminate frills. I don’t get to punch in some numbers and create income through taxes. The previous mayor loved doling out these wonderful city services but he believed that he could simply charge the costs to the taxpayer credit card and we get to live in his socialist utopia.
Guess what, the real world doesn’t get to work that way and Rob Ford unfortunately now has to play the bad guy and find the money to pay for all this splendor that David Miller left us with.
Next time there is an open forum for people to register an opinion, they should only be let into council chambers if they bring a copy of their Toronto tax bill, otherwise stay home and whine to somebody else!
